al-Badr al-Tali bi-Mahasin man Bad al-Qarn al-Sabi
- Author died
- 1250 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Ma‘rifah
al-Badr al-Tali bi-Mahasin man Bad al-Qarn al-Sabi (The Rising Full Moon with the Virtues of Those Who Came After the Seventh Century) is a biographical dictionary authored by the Yemeni scholar and chief judge Muhammad ibn Ali al-Shawkani (1173–1250 AH / 1760–1834 CE) . The work documents the biographies of prominent scholars, rulers, and notables who lived from the beginning of the eighth century AH down to al-Shawkani's own time in the thirteenth century AH .
Purpose and Composition
Al-Shawkani explains in his introduction that his primary motive for compiling the dictionary was to refute a widespread claim among followers of the four legal schools that the capacity for independent legal reasoning (ijtihad) had become impossible after the sixth or seventh century AH . He rejected this notion as baseless ignorance that restricts divine grace to specific generations and falsely implies that later eras lacked scholars capable of articulating the proofs of God, interpreting the Quran and Sunnah, and preserving Islamic law .
Al-Shawkani envisioned the book as a complementary reference for students of history, noting that reading it alongside foundational historical works—such as Tarikh al-Islam (History of Islam) and Siyar Alam al-Nubala (Biographies of Noble Figures) by al-Dhahabi, al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh (The Complete History) by Ibn al-Athir, and Wafayat al-Ayan (Obituaries of Eminent Men) by Ibn Khallikan—would provide comprehensive knowledge of notable figures across both the earlier and later generations of the Muslim community .
Structure and Scope
The dictionary is organized alphabetically according to the Arabic letters of the names rather than chronological order . It opens under the letter alif with the biography of the ascetic Yemeni scholar Ibrahim ibn Ahmad al-Kinai (d. 793 AH) .
The work covers figures from diverse regions across the Islamic world, including prominent figures from Yemen, Egypt, the Levant, and the Ottoman lands, spanning jurists, traditionists, poets, judges, and sultans . Al-Shawkani also included an extensive autobiography under his own alphabetical entry, adhering to the tradition of earlier historians and traditionists . In it, he details his lineage, his birth in Hijrat Shawkan in Dhu al-Qadah 1173 AH, his upbringing in Sanaa, the texts he memorized in his youth, the teachers under whom he studied, and his broad scholarly engagements .
Supplements and Publication
The Yemeni historian Muhammad ibn Muhammad Zabara compiled an appendix to the work titled al-Mulhaq al-tabi li-l-Badr al-Tali, containing brief biographies of 440 notable Yemeni figures who lived between the eighth and twelfth centuries AH and were not included in al-Shawkani's original compilation .
The book was published in two volumes in Cairo in 1348 AH (1929 CE), accompanied by Zabara's supplement . It has also appeared in later editions, including an edition edited by Muhammad Hasan Hallaq published by Dar Ibn Kathir in Damascus .
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